
Ep. 391: Am I Getting Better? feat. Josh McKinney
From BJJ Mental Models by Steve Kwan
May 18, 2026 · 1h 5m · Episode 391
About this episode
Josh McKinney discusses effective self-coaching methods and the misconceptions around measuring progress in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
This week, we're joined by Josh McKinney! Josh is a black belt, head coach at HeadNod Jiu-Jitsu in Southern Illinois, and the host of the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu podcast. In this episode, Josh shares a framework for self-coaching beyond getting belt promotions, and explains why submission count and belt color are the wrong yardsticks for measuring whether you're getting better. Topics include: false metrics, the over-reliance on your A-game, learning to read old-school black belts, the Henry Akin...
People in this episode
Host: Steve Kwan
Guest: Josh McKinney
Topics covered
- self-coaching
- measuring progress
- false metrics
- submission count
- belt promotions
- black belt learning
Keywords
- self-coaching
- BJJ
- progress measurement
- black belt
- submission count
- A-game
- false metrics
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: HeadNod Jiu-Jitsu
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